Ref.: TRUM-05778
Italian Navy Battleship RN Littorio 1941 Littorio was a Vittorio Veneto-class battleship that served in the Regia Marina during World War II. She was named after the Lictor ("Littorio" in Italian), in ancient times the bearer of the Roman fasces, which was adopted as the symbol of Italian Fascism. She was later renamed Italia. Her keel was laid down in 1934 at the Ansaldo shipyards in Genoa; she was launched in 1937, and her construction was completed in 1940, after Italy entered in war against France and United Kingdom. After the war she was taken by the United States as war compensation, but was scrapped in 1948. The Vittorio Veneto class was designed by General Umberto Pugliese, and was the first class of battleship to exceed the limits of the Washington Treaty (35,000 long tons (36,000 t) of displacement). On 1 September 1940, Littorio participated in Operation Hats, followed by Operation MB 5 on 29 September. She was in Taranto harbor during the Battle of Taranto on 11 November, during which she received three torpedo hits, which caused relatively minor damage requiring five months repairs. After repairs, Littorio participated in the attack of the Allied convoy Albert on 27 September 1941. The convoy was transporting supplies to the island of Malta. On 17 December, she took part in the First Battle of Sirte. She was assigned to the distant covering force for the convoy M 42, which was bound for North Africa, carrying supplies for Rommel’s Afrika Korps. Littorio, along with the rest of the distant covering force, engaged a British flotilla of surface raiders, and drove them off. On 3 January 1942, Littorio was again tasked with convoy escort, in support of M 43. On 22 March, she participated in the Second Battle of Sirte, as the flagship for an Italian force attempting to destroy a British convoy bound for Malta. During the battle, Littorio struck the destroyers HMS Havock and Kingston with her main guns, nearly destroying Kingston, which managed to limp back to Malta the following morning. Three months later, on 15 June, Littorio participated in the interception of the Vigorous convoy to Malta. During the return to port, Littorio was struck by a torpedo dropped by a British Wellington bomber, but the ship was able to return to port for repairs. On 30 July 1943, after the fall of Benito Mussolini, Littorio was renamed Italia. The Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces took place on 8 September, along with the rest of the Italian fleet she was formally surrendered to the Allies on the following day. She was stationed in the Great Bitter Lake in Egypt until the end of the war. Littorio participated in 46 war missions, nine of which were enemy hunting and three were as an escort.